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Summary: Operational Guidance for Action - Reporting and Adjusting 2007-2008 Federal Pell Grant Awards Based on Elimination of "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules

Publication Date: October 12, 2007

Author: William Leith, Acting General Manager, Application, Operations and Delivery Services, Federal Student Aid

Summary: Operational Guidance for Action - Reporting and Adjusting 2007-2008 Federal Pell Grant Awards Based on Elimination of "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules

Posted on 10-12-2007

As explained in Dear Colleague Letter P-07-02, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (the CCRAA), Pub.L. 110-84, modifies the award rules for the Federal Pell Grant (Pell Grant) Program. Specifically, the "tuition sensitivity" provision of section 401(b)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), is repealed, retroactively to the 2007-2008 Award Year.

As a result of the CCRAA, the two-page "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules published in Dear Colleague Letter P-07-01 may no longer be used. All Pell Grant awards for the 2007-2008 Award Year must be determined using the four-page "Regular" Payment and Disbursement Schedules.

We have begun the work needed to modify our systems, Web and software products, technical documents, training materials, and publications to reflect the repeal of the "tuition sensitivity" provision beginning with 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards. However, completion of our work is not necessary for each affected school to take the actions needed to submit new 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) System and/or to adjust previously submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards.

In this announcement, we provide technical guidance on submitting and adjusting 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards. The information is presented in the following order:

  • Submitting New 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards

  • Adjusting Previously Submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined Using Eliminated Alternate Schedules (multiple subsections)

  • Guidance for EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0 Users

  • Contact Information

Submitting New 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards

If a school has not yet submitted to the COD System an origination record for a student's 2007-2008 Pell Grant award, the award must be determined using the "Regular" Payment and Disbursement Schedules. When submitting the award to the COD System, the school must not set the "Low Tuition and Fees Code" in the COD Extensible Markup Language (XML) Common Record document. This means that if the <LowTuitionFeesCode> tag of the COD XML Common Record document is submitted, it must include nil = "true".

Adjusting Previously Submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined Using Eliminated Alternate Schedules

If a school has previously submitted to the COD System an origination record for a student's 2007-2008 Pell Grant award that was determined using the "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules, the award must be recalculated using the "Regular" Payment and Disbursement Schedules. In addition, the award amount and disbursement amounts in the COD System must be adjusted to reflect the correct award.

A school in this situation may make the necessary adjustments via COD XML Common Record batch submission or COD Web site submission.

COD XML Common Record Batch Submission

Step 1:

Submit to the COD System a Pell Grant award maintenance record that includes nil = "true" in the <LowTuitionFeesCode> tag of the COD XML Common Record document.

Either of the following formats for nil = "true" may be used:

<LowTuitionFeesCode xsi:nil="true"/>

<LowTuitionFeesCode xsi:nil="true"></LowTuitionFeesCode>

Upon receipt of this maintenance record, the value previously stored in the COD System will be removed, and the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount will be automatically recalculated and returned to the school.

Step 2:

Submit the new Pell Grant award amount and new disbursement information in the same batch. The new award amount and new disbursement information will be determined by the school on the basis of all eligibility factors.

Note: See #2 under "Important Notes About Both Submission Options" below for a one-step process that may be used by a school that will recalculate the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount using its own processes.

COD Web Site Submission

Step 1:

Log in to the COD Web site, navigate to the Award Detail Information screen for the Pell Grant award, and click on the UPDATE AWARD button. The Update Award Information screen displays.

On the Update Award Information screen, select the blank space at the top of the dropdown menu for the Low Tuition Fee Code field and click on the SUBMIT button.

Upon receipt of this Web update, the value previously stored in the COD System will be removed, and the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount will be automatically recalculated and returned to the school.

Step 2:

Navigate to the COD Web site's Award Disbursements Information screen for the Pell Grant award and click on the disbursement number hyperlink under the No. column. The Disbursement Information screen displays.

On the Disbursement Information screen, click on the UPDATE button. The Update Disbursement Information screen displays.

On the Update Disbursement Information screen, enter the new disbursement information and click on the VIEW AWARD DATA button. Enter the new award amount determined by the school on the basis of all eligibility factors and click on the SUBMIT button.

Note: See #2 under "Important Notes About Both Submission Options" below for a one-step process that may be used by a school that will recalculate the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount using its own processes.

Important Notes About Both Submission Options

1) When using either of the two-step processes explained above, the school must ensure that Step 2 is completed. If an increase to the Pell Grant award is not submitted, the student's award will remain capped at the lower amount.

2) If a school has recalculated the student's Scheduled Federal Pell Grant amount using its own processes, it may change the Low Tuition and Fees Code status, award amount, and disbursement information in the same COD XML Common Record batch submission or in the same COD Web site submission.

Guidance for EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0 Users

With the elimination of the "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules, EDExpress 2007-2008 users may need to recalculate Pell Grant awards in both the Packaging and Pell modules of Release 3.0. Both modules contain a Low Tuition-related field that previously may have been activated to calculate awards using the "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules.

Detailed guidance on how to identify and update all student records with 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards that were determined using the "Alternate" Payment and Disbursement Schedules is provided in the attachment titled "Identifying and Recalculating 2007-2008 Pell Grant Awards Determined Using Eliminated Alternate Schedules in EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0."

Contact Information

If you have any questions about submitting new or adjusting previously submitted 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards to the COD System, contact the COD School Relations Center at 800/4PGRANT (800/474-7268) for ACG, National SMART Grant, and Pell Grant or by e-mail at CODSupport@acs-inc.com.

If you have any questions about identifying and updating 2007-2008 Pell Grant awards using the Packaging module or the Pell module of EDExpress 2007-2008 Release 3.0, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.

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